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Asceticism, spirituality and epoché
05
Mar
The asceticism that comes from the Greek acekesis which means “spiritual exercise”, and often it means renouncing pleasure and even some of the primary needs, for example, not eating and fasting, can be linked to spirituality or simply to some culture.
Epoché means the suspension of judgment, as already explained in phenomenology, it is a “putting in brackets”, which means abandoning even if I convince some concept or theory, in order to penetrate a phenomenon, and be aware of some “thing” that we investigate .
It could be a point of convergence between spirituality and knowledge, of course in an environment where this was conducive, and that each side there was prepared for a true “suspension of judgments”, which is rare, even more so in times of confused convictions. Supposing that it is possible, and the exercise that Husserl proposes, the Greeks did it to get to know, episteme and get out of the doxa, what are the necessary conditions for this realization, so to think of an exercise for this means to create an asceticism for “epoché”.
The phenomenological epoché for spiritual elevation can thus be extended, it is not a change from its true path through which it must find the Being creating a transcendental (or reflexive phenomenology, as Gethmann stated) and this Heidegger path has trodden deeper.
Turning to what is experienced, to the original, to the source, to the birth of what is as it is (turning to the thing as proposed by Husserl), constituting an elevation by exercise that has the consequence of personal knowledge, but is far of just being self-help.
Taking the human being and taking it into consideration is not only in the sense of accumulating new information, but becoming more Being, the new man as proposed by Husserl, freeing himself from the automated and immediate movement of daily life, from impulsive and little reflective.
There are many false acceses, which, because they are mere exercises, do not bring with them a spirituality or a form of self-knowledge in fact
Infinity and human complexity
03
Mar
Nothing weaker than wanting to arrest the man who makes him a hostage of ideas
or static methods, so there is no thesis and antithesis, but to be and not to be, Husserl stated that “by conceiving ideas, man becomes a new man , who, living in finitude, is oriented towards the pole of infinity ”, but the idea here is the eidos of ancient Greece.
This concept comes from a Proto-Indo-European root “weid”, “see”, origin of the words, εἶδος (eidos) and ἰδέα (idea), according to the “American Heritage Dictionary”, and its pre-Socratic origin is linked the investigation of what things are in essence, and thus the idea of substance appears, as what a thing is independent of its changes in “shape”.
Edmund Husserl foreseeing that the idealistic philosophy that became fixed in forms and that no longer saw the essence would result, affirmed “philosophers, at present, are very fond of criticism instead of studying things from the inside”, it is due to this fact that we fixate on forms and effects without ever referring to the essentials and things.
This is how his phenomenological philosophy was established, it is necessary to return “to the very things”, in a famous expression by Husserl, and his phenomenology is this way back to things, to the world of lived experience or the “lebenswelt” (world-of-life) ) which is the opposite of the world of ideas, from Parmenides, through Plato, to Kant and Hegel.
Phenomenology was born from the social psychology of Franz Brentano recovered the idea of intentionality, coming from the ontological concept of consciousness, which itself highlights the most important point of this experience, that is, the intention clarifies the structure of what is conscious.
What is hidden in every experience, then, is the intention of what is conscious, and if all consciousness only makes sense as awareness of something, psychology deals with what is not conscious.
Self-help, spirituality and psychology
02
Mar
The difference is quite large, but for many, including bookstores, these issues are in
the same session, making a joke I would say that the first one gives the idea that you alone resolve yourself (self-help) and the second you need a professional, so it is more expensive. However, the issue is deeper and more serious.
Self-help has created a series of popular beliefs, for example, Rich Dad, poor son, so self-help suggests Rich Son, or Retired Young and Rich or Poor Father for young people, anyway the list is immense, if it were true everyone would say the same, but life does not have these magic formulas.
So, the objective of every self-knowledge process, including psychology is one, can be effective if it is based on real experiences and facts of a person’s life, so it cannot have a general formula, and this is as old as epistemic thinking “Know yourself”, but this must not be a doxa, that is, a mere unfounded opinion.
Clinical psychology, just to give an example, has found that our symptoms, our problems, our suffering arise and grow from unconscious sources, this means that there is a layer that we consciously have little access to, that give rise to what we are.
However, today there is an even more serious problem where charlatans and false promises of self-help reside, spirituality without a personal and social context, “unspiritualized asceticism” as stated by Peter Sloterdijk, a kind of catharsis or self-help that leads to fanaticism without spirituality.
Even to call it spirituality is a mistake, it is self-help with a manipulated religion and unfounded beliefs, but true spirituality exists, and it is a way of providing balance and helping us with unconscious sources of problems or even solutions.
Anyway, it would be good to separate the three fields, personal, social and work self-help formulas, clinical treatment of psychological problems and true spirituality that does not co-exist in all three, a form of personal or community asceticism that leads to improved relationships and greater happiness conviviality.
Joy or happiness, gaudio and euphoria
20
Feb
Joy and happiness are not the same thing, although one can lead to the other
and vice versa, joy is a feeling of satisfaction, of completeness or even fullness in its extreme, what I call gaudio, while happiness is the greatest good desired by the human being, so stated Aristotle, and although it may have nuances of values it is the best definition.
In this sense, happiness is to live the moment well, even media and mystical philosophers agree, but the “virtuous” effort that makes conquest one of these moments, but it is clear that each one of this virtuous path can be lived with greatness and effort.
That struggle for which every moment can be lived with dignity and even joy, but the joy and true happiness is conquered with effort, virtuous exercise of a dignified path, while euphoria can be won in a fleeting moment, the joy and true happiness do not.
Joy is therefore an exercise beyond the obstacle and everyday problems, happiness is the possible achievement after a long journey in which reaching the summit depends on the last and decisive steps, often without breath and without clarity that the summit can be reached.
The Greeks said that “eudemonia” (“good”-eu from “spirit”-daimon) was conquered by arete, which can be seen both as “virtue” (the repeated practice of the virtuos, the virtual) as “excellence”.
It is also not fortune, in the Greek sense of the word it is not just money, but chance or luck, the goddess Fortuna became an iconographic image from the illuminations of medieval manuscripts to the stained glass windows of the churches (photo *), it was like that a luck cast at random, but it would be determined predestined.
Joy is joy when achieved by small daily efforts and it is not fleeting, while euphoria is not only escapes but can become deep sadness or even depression, for elaborate speeches living the moment that is wise, can be lived with joy or euphoria.
* The blindfolded goddess Fortuna, called the “wheel of Fortuna” was painted by Tadeuz Kuntze in 1754, oil on canvas in National Museum of Warsaw.
Morality and its diverse concepts
13
Feb
We think of morals as moralism, Puritanism or “certain” Christian morals, as a whole it involves love and so it also involves dialogue, but morality is
even more confused because it mixes with Kantian idealistic morals and state morals, the so-called “justice”.
Hellenic morality, of classical antiquity, is a fusion of Greek morality when it spreads through Asia Minor and the Mediterranean will meet the Roman “laws”, which is a nascent state morality, but separates from it as a form of stoicism.
This period was called by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen (1808-1884) for the first time Hellenic, and include among the thinkers Plotinus, Cicero, Zeno and Epicurus, they keep geometric and astronomical notions that merge with moral ideas, we know great phrases of this period, but not thought like Droysen did.
It can be synthesized in two currents, moral individualism or “inner” morality and Plotinus neoplatonism, which is similar to the thought of Augustine of Hippo, but different in terms of teleological morality, for Augustine, evil is the absence of good, not the opposite.
Kantian morality is essentially individualistic, “acts in such a way as to be a model for others” while state morality will be the rules that managed the social contract (previous post), Christian morality as current since the time of Jesus can be pharisaic and traditionalist (what is called fundamentalist), in essence it should be universal.
Loving everyone, including enemies, is not what most religious moralists do, their essence is still the “fight against evil” and not their overcoming through love and never hate.
Between Vertigo and Two Popes
04
Feb
Brazilian democracy does not yet have depth
and maturity, everything is polarized between two exclusive points of view and both authoritarian, but neither is the case of Democracy in Vertigo with a clear interpretation of the facts of the young director Petra Costa, nor Dois Papas (Two Popes) under the direction of Fernando Meirelles, are good directors and have a view of the facts.
I start with Fernando Meirelles because it was his interview at Roda Viva (Brazilian TV program) that encouraged me to talk about the Brazilian Oscar nominations, which should make us all proud, although we may disagree, we need to learn this democratic right, both have cultural foundations.
Meirelles explained his vision of Francisco, which would be the original script of the film, which gradually became the dialogue and the admission of papal mistakes, both made mistakes, as we all do in life, but both manage to dialogue and look at the future of the church and man.
Brazilian democracy lacks this to admit the mistakes of the past, but it is clear, first of all, to know it well, otherwise this will never be possible and in this sense I value and liked the film by Pedra Costa.
In fact, it is necessary to know her story, Elena, her first film has what characterizes her and seems to be the guiding thread of her style, puts her “gaze”, which is clear by putting in the documentary she makes a swirling dance , reminiscent of the deceased sister and closes in a close-up of her eye, I mean, she sees herself putting her vision on the facts.
Seeing the debate, and remembering the films of Meirelles O Fiel Jardineiro (2005) and Cidade de Deus (2002), I see that the debaters (in tv program) know little about his work and are fixated on their own polarized opinions about the film, I also highlight the little trendy but excellent film “Essay on blindness” (2008) that would fit very well for what happens in Brazilian culture.
Both Petra’s documentary and Meirelles’ film have emotion, good images and photography, in short they are good, but most will stay with the polarization and not with the dialogue that art seeks.
Still identity
03
Feb
Philosophy conceptualized the 
question of identity using only the logical principle, A must be A and cannot be non-A, but the very question of “being” has a metaphysical and ontological basis because what it means to be A or not to be, while Being this logical identity is only self-identity.
So cultural and religious groups that seek their own identity can only define themselves as being if they are in relation to non-A, this second principle is the difference, even Hegel says that it is this negativity that can allow what reflection to be A can have in itself.
Heidegger after explaining this principle of logical identity A = A, stating that “each A is himself the same; she says before herself is each A himself the same. In each identity resides the relationship ‘with’, therefore, a mediation, a connection, a synthesis, the union in a unity ”(Heidegger, 2006, p. 39), let us explain better using Heidegger himself.
He immediately explains that in Western history, contrary to what is imagined and said, identity “appears, through the history of Western thought with the character of unity” (idem), and it is not a “tasteless emptiness of that that, in itself devoid of relations, persists in monotonous uniformity ”(idem), that is, it is diverse, there is and the difference persists.
Since then this idea of identity of the same, of us closed in groups, of false collectivity and diversity persisted, the reasons are equally historical, as Heidegger states: “only the philosophy of speculative idealism, prepared by Leibniz and Kant, founds, through Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, a place for the essence in itself synthetic of identity ”(ibidem, p. 39).
Thus, explains Heidegger: “it remains forbidden to think of representing the unity of identity as monotonous uniformity and abstract from the mediation that prevails in Unity” and concludes: “Where this happens, identity is represented only abstractly” (ibidem).
This of course is not without an ontological negativity, as the being is obliged to demand his difference, his negativity and often does so in a radically challenging way, because there is an absence of mediation, what is done in the abstract is to speak of the diverse, of the different, but in the concrete it ignores it, expels it as soon as it manifests itself as an Other.
Heidegger, M. (2006) O que é isto filosofia – identidade e diferença (What is this – philosophy – Identity and difference). RJ, Petrópolis: Editora Vozes.
Humility and Authority
10
Jan
Nietzsche’s stereotype about contemporary
morality by establishing the difference between that of slaves/flock sage ness, humility and piety and that of the lords that is that of joy, inventiveness and life, may seem exaggerated but it is that idealism created, and was strengthened by the statutes of the state, the Individual and reductionist scientificism.
The Kant philosopher of idealism proclaimed two ideas about humility, the first about moral humility that “is the feeling of smallness of our value, compared to the law” and the second that is “the claim that, through renunciation, acquire some moral value, hidden moral value”, with a little analysis it is clear that it is a false humility, used for power.
It is possible to establish a fair relationship of authority with humility, although this relationship is not simple, it is possible when done as a service, detachment and potential for it to exercise, so it is not a mushy humility, since it is not necessary to be aware of authority.
The biblical example is very illustrative for this, Jesus’ authority before the people and the disciples was never made as a power structure, but with the authority of those who know the value and “potential” he has to exercise it, but by asking to be baptized by John the Baptist and washing the feet of the apostles exercised a humility of true authority.
Contemporary society needs less authoritarianism and more authority with humility.
Golden Globe Winners
07
Jan
The highlight is the winner of best actor Brad
Pitt in Era once in Hllywood, who had two fair Anthony Hopkins nominations in Two Popes and Al Pacino in The Irishman, best actress went to Awkwafina (The Farewell) who had the nomination of Emma Thompson (Late Night) , the awards can reverse at the Oscars, although the Golden Globe is always considered a preview.
Best dramatic film was for 1917, which won best director also Sam Mendes,
where the Irishman, Joker and Two Popes competed, I didn’t watch the winner, but i had posted that I expected a surprise, which happened, best comic or musical film went to Once time in Hollywood, which deserves to be seen because it also won best screenplay.
Joker won a consolation award with the best soundtrack, i didn’t see the film protesting the praise of violence and an attempt to justify human wickedness in times of autocrats and dangers of war I consider inappropriate for all ages.
The Golden Globe sits an numerous list of award-winning, best actress in series went to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, best actress in miniseries Michelle Willaims, Best actor in a miniseries for Russell Crowe, etc. appear those competitions between children who give medals to All.
One last highlight is the best foreign film for Parasite, those who watched really are impressed with the film.
in Balsamão, away from the hustle and bustle
19
Jul
The movement to rest, to meditate and to dive deep in the Being, is 
a process of alienation of the political, social and economic crises. .
One can and should recover life from day to day, but with renewed energy, at the suggestion of a friend arriving in Portugal Marians of the Immaculate Conception.
It stands on top of Mount Morais, which is one of the five levels of the world, and the second is more important than Psalm 124, which says, “As Jerusalem surrounded thereby, protect your people / agora and forever.”
Climbing the terrace to the belvedere, with the Sierra de Bornes around, the olive groves of Chacim in the background, and the Abilheira thermal baths below, the tons of sunset are seen in this sunny period.
The story of the Polish book Casimir Wyszynski (1700-1755) described it as follows: “Here we are surrounded by rivers, fields, orchards, vineyards, meadows, olive trees and fruits of various kinds, and on this hill there are forests, trees, beautiful oaks.”
He is being formed by a monastery there, who already lived and called Brother Casimiro with his companion of grace Joao de Deus, who accepted and dressed to integrate a new order.
Does the desire to retreat and meditate to hear the deep voices in us, is also what Jesus means to care about his faith? Jesus and not to help the services of the house, seeing Jesus rebuke her (Luke 10,42): “Martha, Martha! You are worried and anxious for many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary chose a better place and this is not the one.”
It takes time to breathe, to rest and re-establish as energies.
